Wednesday, April 22, 2015

South African residents vow to protect foreigners

A group of South African residents has made headlines for positive reasons after they publicly vowed to protect foreign nationals living in their location.

It is refreshing to hear that not all South Africans share the same ill sentiments about foreign nationals living in the country. The people of Palm Ridge, Ekurhuleni, have organised a patrol team made up of volunteers from the neighbourhood who are willing to sacrifice their sleep to maintain peace and order and to be always on standby in the event that something goes amiss.

The patrols are led by a head patroller, Prince Nkosi (49), who is leading a team of 19 others whose mission is to keep the community safe and free from xenophobic attacks.

“Since the attacks against foreigners started, we have asked for help from other community members so that there is extra man-power to prevent possible attacks,” said Mr Nkosi adding that they had held discussions with foreign shop owners in their community whom they asked to take precaution by closing their shops at 9pm. The community patrol teams begin to patrol as soon as the shops are closed so that the shops remain secure and safe.

This move has been applauded by a number of people who are against xenophobia and it comes as a breath of fresh air for the country which has been tainted with negative media attention because of the ongoing xenophobic attacks on foreign nationals in the country.